NEW DELHI : The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry (MoRTH) has said that all new trucks manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, must be equipped with AC (air conditioned) cabins for drivers. In a notification, the Ministry has said: “…the vehicles manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, shall be fitted with an air-conditioning system for the cabin of vehicles of N2 and N3 category.”

The testing of the cabin fitted with an air conditioning system shall be as per IS14618:2022, the notification added.

In July, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari had said that the draft notification to mandate the installation of air conditioning systems in the cabins of trucks has been approved.

Truck drivers play a key role in the transport sector, one of the most important areas for India, and there is a need to address issues regarding their working conditions and state of mind, the Union minister had said recently.

He had said that air conditioned cabins for trucks will soon be made mandatory.

Lamenting that truck drivers have been forced to work in extreme heat conditions, the minister had said that he has been pushing for air conditioned cabins for truck drivers for a long time even as “some people objected to it saying it will increase costs”.

“….I have signed the file that mandates air conditioning in truck driver compartments. We must ensure that people who drive the trucks are well taken of,” Nitin Gadkari had said in June this year.

Trucks in India are not designed for the comfort of the driver, while in US, safety and comfort features are on the top of the priority list for the manufacturers, he had said.

The Minister had also assured that the Union government is doing its best to improve wayside amenities on the national highways.